Naps on the bed

[IE00]

Hello, has anyone's LO gone from napping on the bed to sleeping in their own cot?

My LO is 4 months old and now only lasts 30 minutes in her next to me cot for naps. I breastfeed to sleep and used to transfer her, but now she either wakes up or wakes up after 30 minutes. Now I've started to breastfeed her on our bed and leaving her on our bed with no duvets or pillows and in her sleeping bag. Strangely she sleeps so well like this, even when I'm not there. She also sleeps okay in her next to me cot at night. I would keep doing it but I'm worried it'll make the transition to her nursery cot harder.

Any advice please on getting her to sleep back in her cot, or should I just try and move her to the nursery?

Please don’t leave her alone on the bed. You won’t know she can roll until the first time she does it.

Is she getting too big for the next to me and waking herself up by hitting the sides?

At that age I left mine on their own to sleep in the cot so I would give the cot in the nursery a go and see what happens.

I have one who crawled from 4 months so please please please don't let baby sleep on her own on a bed.
maybe put a (single) matress on the floor of the nursery and let her nap there.

We have a video monitor that comes on anytime there is movement or noise, also she can't roll over from her back yet so there is no chance she will crawl off the bed. Furthermore there is the same risk of crawling with the next to me cot as it attached to the bed with the side down - were she to be able to crawl she could easily crawl onto the bed and off.

Do you have any tips for getting them to sleep in the cot? If you feed them to sleep, how do you transfer them without waking them up?

What about a bed side guard so she can’t fall off the bed?

I’m no help really as my baby was the same - would only sleep 30 mins in his cot if transferred after being fed to sleep. I gave in, and I now do a combination of:

• Let him nap in the car (time trips out with his nap time so he can get his half hour morning nap on the way to somewhere)
• pop him in the sling and go for a walk at nap time
• pop him in the pushchair and go for a walk at naptime. This is my go-to for afternoon naps as i can then circle back to home, park him in the hallway and get on with stuff. If he stirs I can push him back and forth a bit and he’ll go back to sleep.

Is there a reason you need your baby to sleep in the cot?

Also bed guard - we have one for when we cosleep (baby comes in with us from about 2am). It was about £30 so well worth it. If you want to keep to baby sleeping on the bed.

I say do what works (and is safe). I wouldn’t stress about getting the baby used to napping in the cot yet unless you really have to. I stressed soooo much about naps with my first, with the second I am now of the opinion naps are not forever! So do whatever is best for both of you. Not what everyone else says you should. It goes by in the blink of an eye it really does!

Have you tried the cot rather than next to me? If I remember correctly I think DC2 became increasingly difficult to transfer into the next to me but was easier to transfer into the cot. I think to do with the angle I was moving them at maybe, who knows.

At 4 months I would really try and break the feeding to sleep thing if you can. I’m left having to cuddle16 month old DC2 to sleep now and really which I had dealt with it as a younger baby. DC1 was ace at going to sleep by themselves from a young age but no idea why or how.

even with a video monitor I wouldn't.
babies can be fast very unpredictable.
as said before I had one who went from almost totally immobile to crawling within days at 4m old.

Thanks all.

@Bigoldmachine, where does your DS sleep at night? I guess the reason for wanting her to sleep in her cot is I don't want her to get used to the bed and for us having to cosleep.

@Jennyfromtheculdesac thanks for the advice
I was concerned that because the cot in the nursery is so low down, it would be harder to transfer her. I wish I could practice self settling but I'm so exhausted that anytime she is asleep I just take the break. We have tried the sleepy but awake thing but she just cries and I give in. I'm hoping to get through this regression and then focus on this.

@IE00 up until 5 months he slept on me downstairs until I went up to bed, then coslept in our bed (in the sidecar crib if he would but usually just safely cosleeping next to me in bed).

From 5 months he started the night in his own cot and I’d resettle him in there and transfer back to cot when I’d got him back to sleep if he woke before I went to bed. Then I’d bring him in our bed to cosleep (once the sidecar crib was gone we got the bed guard).

Now he is 10 months and I still do the same, just keep resettling him in his room until I get too tired too, then he comes in with us (usually about 2am). He loves his cot. When he wakes up he’s not upset I’m not there or anything, he does try to go back to sleep before he calls for me. He’s just gradually got better at it by himself. So now he’ll tend to do 7pm-10pm, i feed him back to sleep and back in his cot, then he’ll wake again at 2.

OP please don’t leave her alone on your bed. You shouldn’t leave in the next to me alone without the sides up either. Let her nap on the bed but stay with her.